On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 15:55:46 -0600, "Keith E. Loyd"
wrote:

Howdy,

Suppose you bought 2 adult platys and put them in a good environment. Am I
guaranteed babies or do I need to buy a male?
snip

Errr.... Yes, a male is necessary at some point. The platies you
purchased *could* have been impregnated in the store (they ARE horney
little devils), and *may* give birth later on - but if they don't
start showing or deliver soon, I wouldn't count on any young till you
aquire a male. I am not aware of any long-term sperm storage
capacity.

I have 7 sunset platies in my 75G planted tank, and I started with a
M/F pair. They were the first inhabitants of the tank two years ago.
The female died during childbirth after the third brood. Each brood
had two survivors. I made no effort to segregate the young from the
tank population, so I don't know how many may have been eaten. They
are born "on the run", and will seek shelter among the plants
immediately.

All but one of the young turned out to be male. I surely pity the
lone female when it reaches "puberty." The young males chase the
oldest male around constantly trying to 'mate' with him - they are
obviously quite confused. ;-)

They nibble at algae and chase each other around a lot, but are
generally peaceful residents of a 75G tank which includes 2 small
generic plecos, 3 Siamese Algae Eaters, 7 Shultz Tetras, 6 Lemon
Tetras, 1 Black Loach, 3 Corys of varying species, 3 brigesii snails,
6 Black Tetras and 10 Cardinal Tetras.

The sole loach does a good job of keeping the population of pond
snails at a minimum. I would get several more, as they are social
creatures, but no one stocks them - I bought it as an oddity two years
ago, and they had only one.

Good Luck,
Greg